Steam no longer supports Windows 7, 8, and 8.1::Customers sticking to the good-old (and dead) Windows 7 now have one more reason to ditch the operating system: as of January 1, 2024, Steam no longer supports Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.
You must log in or register to comment.
Linux
It uses Chromium on Linux too. It uses DRM on Linux too.
The real answer is GoG.
Honesty for a lot of older games gog is the answer. A lot of older games just don’t run well or at all on proton.
Though you could also just get an old console to play them on and never worry about updates breaking things again.
It’s good for new games too! With Lutris I can even install Windows games with Proton on Linux, or choose my own Wine setup. I think Heroic Game Launcher does the same.
Best of all, no internet connection is required once a game is downloaded, unless the game specifically demands it. You can save your installers locally and keep them forever, never needing to phone home. If push comes to shove, install a VM of an old OS, and it’ll run just the same. Connecting old OSes to the internet is potentially a security risk. And, as we see here, Steam ain’t gonna work on old OSes anyway. You’re going to need to pirate the games you already bought if you want to play them again in 20 years.
Nah, gog doesn’t do anything to suppory Linux. Valve is the reason Linux gaming is as good as it is. Pretty much all the games that are on gog are also drm free on steam.
Okay, you just blew my mind. How does one download installers for DRM-free games on Steam? How do you even tell which games are DRM-free? I was not able to find answers with some quick searching, just community-maintained lists of games that are ostensibly DRM-free in one way or another. But how do I verify that? How do I archive installers?
You can usually just copy the game files
Why does it matter if Steam uses Chromium on Linux. It’s not like Gecko dropped embed support or anything
The alternative to Chromium-based apps is not Gecko-based apps; it is native apps, that do not require an entire bloated web engine to run.
This is especially obnoxious with Steam since it wants to run in the background 24/7.
Fuck GoG
The “let them eat cake” cry for social media.
Yes, except If cake were free and accessible to anyone regardless of silverware or plates.
And also allowed to you to modify the cake as you see fit and even gave you the ingredients if you wanted to bake your own
deleted
Same can be said with any operating system, even any piece of software.
I bet, we don’t find a single Windows 8 user who uses Steam on that system. Similar applies to Win7.
Not anymore since it no longer works.
I was still using Steam on Windows 7 as late as last month. Losing access to Steam was one motivation to finally upgrade my computer.
Why not switch to Linux? There is several ones which works well with steam
Because maybe they want to play games without having to check if it runs on linux?
Thanks to the Steam Deck and proton development, these days that’s pretty much limited to a few incompatible multiplayer anticheat systems. Gone are the days where a developer actually had to make a Linux build.
That’s becoming way less of an issue nowadays
That’s actually just what I did. New PC runs Manjaro Linux. So far all the games I’ve thrown at it work just fine.
Maybe I should have done that with the old PC, but I’m lazy and Windows 7 was working well enough.
Win 8 was listed just under 1%
Wrong, I used Steam under Win 7 from time to time until December. For some games it doesn’t really matter and I use old machines for fun.
I used to be a Win8 user who had Steam
We’re a GoG-first house, here.
I get that steam dropping win7 was unavoidable based on their shitty choice of browser base, but the alternative was only Firefox and we know how Mozilla-the-app went.
Anyway, GoG gives us control over our purchased copies, and I like that.
There was a time when software didn’t need an entire browser engine to run. We used to call them native applications.
Although looking at how small the pre-Windows 10 customer base is I imagine Valve would have considered it not commercially viable to continue supporting however easy maintaining the codebase was.
Why pay for DRM when there’s a legal, user-friendly alternative? GoG is the best. Proof that we can still have nice things.
I don’t go as far as to boycott Steam, but GoG is my first choice.
But, how about my funny and stupid reviews on the store page, and my useless badges and cards? /s
GoG or itch only, launch with lutris. I just don’t want to risk putting up with this.
I’m not sure why people blame mostly Google for this
Microsoft stopped supporting them long time ago first, in case of Windows 7 it’s almost 4 years nowNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
My setup (it has been destroyed by Gabe)
*Google
deleted by creator
because valvle only removed support due to chromium removing it as well. Steam uses chromium in a few places so they likely figured ending support would be easier than creating a win 7 client with limited features.
Sorry, I realized (by, you know, actually reading the article) and deleted my comment within like 40 seconds, but may not have deleted everywhere (or you had already started replying).
Thanks.
nah I’m just an instance admin, I also see deleted comments. Decided to reply anyway to clear it up.
Direct purchace (if dev is trusted) > GOG > Steam > anything else
It is ridiculous that Steam won’t let you play your games you payed for outside of steam. Games that you’ve played for years on Windows 7 suddenly no longer play. Steam is like a DRM system that suddenly stops working and makes all the stuff you bought worthless.
What if a security exploit happens to affect that older version of Steam that’s no longer updated and somebody’s able to hack your account change your password change your email now they have a brand new entire steam library that you no longer have anymore. Would you rather that? This is more of them covering themselves legally, so if that were to happen, they cannot be sued
Would you rather that?
I would rather Steam let me play all my games I legally purchased on Windows 7 outside of steam. If Steam is not going to work on Windows 7 than stay the hell out of the way and let me play the games I bought and have installed on my computer.
I hope somebody sues them for stealing their purchased games.
This isn’t Steam’s fault. The OS is dead because Microsoft killed it (as part of their ongoing planned-obsolescence operating system program). There is no conceivable way Steam can maintain security for anyone’s account on an OS that hasn’t received security updates for three years.
Jesus Christ 🤦♂️
The OS is over 10 years old. No one in Linux land gets that level of support either.
I don’t want any “support” from Steam. All I want is for Steam to not actively block me from running my purchased games on my computer.
Yes you are asking for support. Even if you don’t understand that.
Nope. Just asking that they remove their DRM before they abandon Windows 7.
There is no conceivable way Steam can maintain security for anyone’s account
Then they need to drop the DRM nonsense and let people use their desktop applications/games that they purchased.
It IS Steam’s fault that Steam forces people to use a DRM system which they then shut down. Who else’s fault would it be?
It’s not Google’s fault that Steam forces people to use a DRM system which they then shut down.
It’s not Microsoft’s fault that Steam forces people to use a DRM system which they then shut down.
It’s not Windows 7/8 user’s fault that Steam forces people to use a DRM system which they then shut down.
I can play GOG games without using GOG. The least that Steam can do is created a lightweight app that let’s users play the games that they have already installed on their computer. Forget about “security” and “accounts”. Just don’t get in the way of users running their own games on their own computers.
You want Valve to develop a version of Steam that circumvents their own DRM to play local files? What would prevent people from using that to pirate things even more easily? I can imagine they’d have some trouble with publishers as well for doing that. There are already largely standardized cracks for steam and emulators for steam; just use that. Regardless, no solution will work for any game using DRM other than Steam, like Denuvo, so you’ll have to rely on pirates for those regardless.
You want Valve to develop a version of Steam that circumvents their own DRM to play local files? Yes, exactly. They owe people that.
What would prevent people from using that to pirate things even more easily? Dunno. Maybe make it not work on win 10+.
Yeah I don’t blame valve for Microsoft dropping security updates and neglecting the last good version of windows. I’ve switched to Linux where this will never happen.
Note that dropping support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 came as part of a butterfly effect of the Chromium project - which Steam depends on - dropping support.
Steam is literally DRM. But nobody wants to acknowledge that.
It’s a store and content downloader. Buy games that don’t implement steamworks and you can copy the install folder to keep playing on windows 7 just fine without logging in.
I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.
Steam isn’t DRM, it’s a game storefront/downloader that offers developers the option of DRM when they publish their game.
Plenty of games have zero DRM, and plenty of games do. I wish they’d make it clearer which do and which don’t, but that’s a separate issue.
It is ridiculous that Steam won’t let you play your games you payed for outside of steam
Very easy to run your previously purchased steam games without Steam. Search “Steam emulator”, follow the GitHub or Codeberg link, and problem solved…
Won’t help with games that use their own custom DRM though.
Thanks! I will try.
You’re right with what you said except for Steam is not like DRM. Steam is DRM!
People will defend Valve with tooth and nails, but like every other digital system, one day it will fuck with their users (my guess is when Gabe Newell retires).
I can barely wait for that day, to see thousands of posts of users crying, because they never purchased anything, only rented! ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗPlenty of people hated Steam when it first came out, it was a controversial thing when games started to require it.
Steam has only become as popular as it is because Valve responded to much of that criticism, and improved it enough to become “acceptable” DRM in the minds of most gamers. People defend it because it came to work (mostly) seamlessly and offer additional beneficial features. Unlike many other far jankier platforms/launchers which have been developed with minimum effort as more transparent cash grabs.
A DRM free world be be ideal, but we rarely get an ideal world, so people settle for the least worst instead.
